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Brown confirms laptop giveaway for poor families

Government sets aside £300m for Home Access scheme designed to close digital
divide

Prime minister Gordon Brown today reaffirmed pledges to close the digital
divide by offering free computers and broadband access to low income families.

Around £300m will be set aside to help 270,000 families as part of the Home
Access scheme.

The plans, originally announced over a year ago, are designed to "close the
digital and educational divide between rich and poor and help keep parents in
touch with their child's progress", according to a note on the official
Number 10 web site.

Schools secretary Ed Balls told the BBC's Today programme this
morning that the government had already begun allocating the computers to
families nationwide, so that "all children and not just those on higher incomes
can have a computer at home".

"We are doing this because we've got the money and evidence shows that it
improves their learning and raises their exam grades," he said. "It's about
delivering a more socially just society in which every child can learn, not just
some."

The plans are part of the government's attempts to close the digital divide,
but are likely to be less controversial than its
proposed
Landline Duty which seeks to raise nearly £1bn in revenue to fund the
rollout of next-generation broadband services to those in poorly served areas.